The Umbrella Salesman
by SeraSearaSpin
Summary: AU. Kano sells magic umbrellas, but no one believes in magic. Based off of Steampianist's & morbidMorsel's song. Not on hiatus, but I'm just really busy. Maybe I can make a new chapter by his birthday again. (The 10th.) (Unlikely).
1. A Busy Young Salesman

**Because while I'm at it, why not start something completely new? Of course, who knows when I'll find time to update, but that's irrelevant. ****Based off of Steampianist &amp; morbidMorsel's song 'The Umbrella Salesman'. Listen to it. It's haunting. I don't think I'm doing it justice in this story, but enough of that.**

**If ****Kano seems somewhat OOC, it's because I'm writing him as still fairly young, so he hasn't quite learned to shield his emotions yet. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.**

**(happy birthday you deceiver you)**

**Anyway, review! :D**

* * *

The newly-risen sun gleamed like a pale coin behind a thin layer of clouds. The wind blew strongly for a moment, tangling in the trees, bending the grass, and spilling the merchandise of the umbrella salesman out of his hands.

"Ah!" He leaped and ran, catching the umbrellas as they drifted like ungainly jellyfish across the sidewalk. One tumbled into the street, and he darted after it, barely missing the incoming front end of a car. An indignant honk of the horn scolded him as he finally caught the umbrella, folding it closed with a decisive snap. "Phew! That was a close one," he said to no one in particular, and tucked the umbrellas more firmly under his arm so that the next gust wouldn't toss them out of his hands again._  
_

It was a frosty day, and Kano's short-sleeved jacket didn't do much to keep him warm. Shifting the umbrellas to the crook of one arm, he rubbed the other with his hand, trying to bring some warmth back into it. It didn't work very well, and he shivered before turning to look at the houses on the side of the street. They didn't look too shabby, like the kind of people who would knock him down to steal his merchandise. Maybe he could sell some things here and get a few dollars, maybe buy a little food.

He smiled. _Yes, that's what I'll do. It's an excellent plan. _He took a breath and knocked on the door, pasting a smile on his face.

It opened a little, and a thin-faced woman peered out. "Yes?"

"Would you like to buy an umbrella?" offered the boy, pulling out an umbrella to display. It was red with white spots, like a toadstool, and he twirled it in his hand before opening it with a small _poompf_. "A magic umbrella, soar up and awa-"

"No, thank you." She all but slammed the door in his face.

Kano dropped the smile and closed the umbrella, rubbing one chilly arm halfheartedly. _Nobody wants to buy them,_ he thought to himself. _They don't believe in magic._ Then, he straightened up, went to the next door, took that bracing breath, and rapped firmly on the door.

It was answered by a small girl with a mane of light hair, who stared up at him with large, inquisitive eyes. He smiled back. "Hello little girl, is your mother here?"

"Yes." A taller woman came to the door, putting a hand on the child's shoulder protectively and eyeing him with suspicion. _Well, all right, fine, so I'm not entirely out of the poorest area yet, _he amended. _Still, nobody's tried to rob me yet._

"Would you like to buy an umbrella?" Cue the swoop, twirl in hand and the opening of the umbrella. This one was bear patterned, pale beige with semicircle ears and a smiling face. The little girl clapped her hands in delight, and on a sudden instinct, Kano bent down to her level. "Do you want to know a secret?"

The girl giggled and nodded her head, and the blond boy stage-whispered, "These are _magic_ umbrellas."

The look of utter astonishment on her face was adorably comical. He felt a surge of joy for making someone happy, dampened only when the mother fixed a steely glare on him that made him want to freeze in place. "If you try, really hard, you can float up to lie on the silver clouds. It's a real bird's-eye view."

The girl turned to her mother. "Mama! Can we buy an umbwella?" The stereotypical toddler lisp changed the word endearingly. "Pwease?" Kano rolled the umbrella handle between his palms at that, sending the colors into a rainbow blur.

For a moment, the woman seemed to be indecisive, hesitating on the threshold of agreement, and Kano's hopes lifted. _Maybe..._

Then she firmed her resolve and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we don't have money for things like this. Maybe next time, Mary," she said to the girl, tousling the fluffy white locks. Mary pouted, but didn't complain any further than that. "Thank you for your time."

The woman closed the door (_trying to coerce working women into spending their hard-earned money on frivolous items, what a joke_), and Kano sighed. The day didn't seem to be getting any warmer, and he was hungry. As if on cue, his stomach growled loudly, and he looked around to see if anyone had heard. It was embarrassing that he'd had to do this, but this was his life now. Only the clothes on his back and the umbrellas he'd found in a garbage pail one day. And how long ago was that? Two months? Three? It felt like his entire life. Certainly more than three paltry months doing this, that was assured.

He'd sold none of them.

Why didn't they believe him when they said they were magic? They were. He'd found them, opened one, and it'd taken him away, to almost fairyland. The clouds and comets were in easy reach, and he could stroke his fingers through the night sky and stir it, licking the stars off his fingers as if they were sprinkles. And though he'd had the time of his life, it was somewhat lonely up there.

_If even just one person would buy one, we could walk hand in hand through the sky as if we were angels. _The thought made him smile. _We'd both fly, dancing into the sun. It'd be beautiful._

Kano tripped over a curb (_clumsy child_), and the umbrellas scattered out of his hands again, rolling every which way. He hastened to pick them up before the wind did, and then he sat on the curb, feeling somewhat faint for a moment. _When was the last time I had something to eat? That was the day before yesterday, right? When that old man didn't chase me away from the trash can. __Maybe I should go back there instead._

Except he already knew that his exhausted legs couldn't manage the trek all the way across the city. He could just patrol the neighborhood, perhaps, looking to sell an umbrella and buy something. But he knew it was a small town, and as he walked from place to place and city to city he'd come full circle, hadn't he? This is where his mother had died, and after walking a few circuits the area, he'd found his way home like a pigeon come to roost. _Bad times can never quite get off of you, can they?_

With effort, he pushed himself back to his feet, clenching the umbrellas tightly. The next house over had a red door, tall with rectangular paneling, and rusted doorknob worn down by use. And he pitched his sales again and again. Once more, twice more. Past noon, people didn't answer the doors anymore. Every door he knocked on was closed, and did not open. He thought it was a pretty accurate representation of the way his life was going.

The sun had started to plunge past the horizon when Kano ended up in an alleyway, all unsold magic umbrellas tight within his grasp, and a gnawing pain in his belly. Orange shadows painted his face like rust, and frustrated tears squeezed from his eyes. "It's unfair!" he shouted, throwing down the umbrellas. "Some people can't make a living, and some can! Why can't I join them? Why do I have to stay anchored in reality? It's not _fair_, dammit!"

_(you don't, remember?)_

Mechanically, gathering up his precious umbrellas, he grabbed the first one that came to his fingers. A rainbow-patterned one, a new color for each segment.

_(are you ready to go up?)_

Closing his eyes and sighing like a druggie taking a hit, he reverently fumbled with the umbrella, opening it slowly and then all at once.

Everything glowed.


	2. Door to Door

**I hope I can update this more often. But I think it's one of those cases where "ending is all planned out, plot is a big question mark". For example, I had no idea what I was doing in this chapter, but here I am anyway. **

**Review! :D**

* * *

When he descended from the empyrean, it was bitterly cold. His body became a shell of ice, and his light-footed aiua spun in its grasp, uncomprehending of this peculiar stiffness that grasped his bones. Kano was tilted, sitting against the wall of the alley, just out of the streetlamp's reach, and the umbrella's handle was frosted to his hands. The rainbow portal was closed. The wind cut right through his jacket, and he would've shivered if he'd had the energy. As it was, his cold muscles lacked the warmth to even consider moving.

_Is this it, then? An unceremonious freezing by the side of the road, a piece of garbage disregarded by society? Is this how I'll find my end?_

A rush of energy infused him, and he struggled with his inflexible muscles, a sudden burst of passion heating his core. He pushed mightily against his natural bonds, clawing movements that rippled docilely under his skin. Yet just as soon as it came, it left, to be replaced with an apathy so thick he thought he'd never escape it. _What does it matter? I have no one, and no one has me..._

Kano remembered the stars, clockwork constellations glinting warmly as he swam among their heights. It brought the smallest of smiles to his arctic lips, nothing more than the slightest of curves facing up. A void the direct opposite of the seemingly eternal stars clutched at him, a subpoena to the final court.

After a short eternity submerged in the cloudy depths, he felt motion. From where, he could not pinpoint, but windows were opening in the darkness. The sky, dappled gray and blue the color of arteries in white flesh, crouched around him. He felt it enfold him like a cloak in an intimate way it had never done before.

Another window, and he realized it wasn't the sky he was shrouded in, but a thick dun-colored blanket. The sky was gone, and in its place was an uncertain orange light. The faintest of feelings returned to him, and there was a dull drone over his head. If he concentrated, he could make out words, but concentrating made his head pound, and the window closed again.

The last window was open for nary more than a second, and it was one of sensation rather than sight. A hand folded to his cheek for a brief instant, palm warm against his clammy skin. No one had touched him with kindness - or touched him at all, really, other than a few kicks and wild swings given by the rude citizens of other cities - since his mother had died. And his mother had been a combination of both worlds, hadn't she?

That thought in mind, he drifted away again, retreating to dwell in the dark Cimmerian desert.

* * *

Sensation returned in gently widening sweeps. A scratchy blanket was rough against Kano's arms and face, and his hair was damp with sweat. He allowed himself a moment to indulge in the luxury of warmth before sitting up straight.

_Where am I? _That was obviously his first priority. A dark room- wait, there were slivers of pasty gray light that leaked around curtains and darkly lambent coals. A warmer light dribbled in a bar, and he guessed it was spilling from under a door. It didn't appear to be a hostile environment.

Kano turned to the next item on his list: _Where are my umbrellas?_ He untangled himself from the blanket and cast about, desperate.

The constructions of cloth and metal were his livelihood. He couldn't live without them. Just the thought of being parted from his umbrellas and his precious portal through the stars made him break out into a cold sweat.

"No...no...no!" He was rambling to himself without even noticing it, frenetically overturning blankets, spreading pillows and furniture alike across the room (_careful, the coals will still burn, child_) and beside himself in an agony of frustration and worry. Shaking his head every time his agitated questing produced a great heaping pile of nothing, Kano felt close to screaming. Quivering slightly all over, the boy raised a blanket above his head and made a violent gesture with it, as if to rip or tear it, and that was how the girl saw him first; a crazy, tattered slip of a boy glaring neon hatred at a blanket as if it were his worst enemy.

Kano turned as the orange light spilled across him, and there was a figure silhouetted in it. A somewhat boyish figure, but clearly a girl, as the next moment revealed.

"What are you doing?" It was a low voice for a girl to have, but it was definitely feminine. She was curious, speaking without any negative affliction at all, but still Kano stuttered, making illegible sounds for a moment before the only thing he'd said to other people for months came to his tongue. He let it fly without hesitation.

"Eh - Ah, would you like to buy an umbrella?" He flushed darkly at his incompetence (_silly boy_); he still did not have his precious umbrellas, he didn't know where he was, or who this girl was at all.

"I have plenty."

_Not this kind,_ he wanted to say. _Not magic ones. _

But the interest in her was gone now, a sort of distance evident in the inflection of her voice, and she turned and disappeared into the light and came back with a tray. An appetizing smell steamed from the tray, and Kano's stomach growled despite himself. He reached for the tray, then stopped and gave the girl a guilty glance. She wasn't much taller than him, but she radiated an air of authority.

"You can take it," she said in the same emotionless voice, and stepped past him to turn the light on.

The brightness overwhelmed his eyes for a moment, and he closed them briefly, trying to gauge on how to deal with this girl. He hadn't had much interaction with others when he was with his mother, and even then he closely guarded by a self-imposed sentinel, spinning tales (_liar_) on how he'd clumsily fallen and bruised his face, or tricking up an excuse (_liar_) for the bandages wrapped round his calf. It was all a game then. And after, no one would go near the dirty little street rat he'd metamorphosed into. The idea of synergy between others was almost an entirely new prospect to him.

As Kano quietly picked at the fruit she'd set before him, she sat cross legged before him and scrutinized him, head tilted to one side. He observed her back. Dark green hair - an unnatural color, did she dye it? Or have someone to dye it? Her clothes were certainly a cut above average, judging by the set and style of them, and if she could afford that, she could afford a stylist. She was pale, likely from a life cooped up indoors, but there was a certain toughness about her that belied her size and stature. Her features were somewhat delicate. Not quite pretty, no, the eyes were too intense and the nose too narrow for that, but there was potential for her to bloom (_burn_).

Of course, most of the automatic judgement upon her looks escaped him; he was of the tender young age where looks don't matter much to children, and all he noticed from that sort of introspection was that her eyes felt like they were boring into his skull. He relaxed when she turned them to picking at a loose thread in her skirt.

Presently, she opened her mouth. "Why do you ask about umbrellas? Don't you want to know how you got here?"

"You see, I sell umbrellas. That's how I make a living. And they're not any type of umbrellas, they're _magic-_"

"Cut the nonsense," she said curtly. "I didn't take you in to hear you rave. Unless you're sick. Are you sick? I've come to believe my father is sick in the mind. You could be like him. Do you believe in those of fairy tales?" Her tone suggested disdain for such a childish practice.

Kano blinked at the sudden gush of words from her. "W-well, yes. Don't you?"

She turned up her nose. "My father says fairy-tales breed laziness, and that laziness breeds sloth. He doesn't let me read fairy tales. Instead, he makes me read horribly boring things, and says if I must waste my time reading, I'd better be useful."

The girl arrogantly made eye contact with him, and he quelled the urge to flinch (_she's only human, and there are worse things to fear than a girl with her dander up_). Instead, he reached for a backbone suppressed by the hardships of his life, and replied hotly; "Well, if you don't have the capacity to imagine things, how do you see your future? How do you dream? You _do_ dream, don't you? Or are you too special for that?"

Now the tables were turned, and the girl looked somewhat flustered. Then her countenance flickered, and she was once again a porcelain doll. "Of course I dream. Everyone should dream, and if they don't, there's something wrong with them." Her tone held the faintest footprints of a sneer. "Dreams are only left-overs from your brain's typical workings, and they hold no significance or meaning." She lifted her chin, daring him to retort.

In reply, Kano popped a slice of apple into his mouth, chewed thoroughly, and swallowed, watching her unblinkingly. "What's your name?"

She was taken aback again. "Tsubomi Kido. But only my friends get to call me Tsubomi, so you have to call me Kido."

Kano took another bite out of an apple slice, contemplated it, then said "Tsubomi."

The girl jerked, as if expecting a blow.

Kano gave a wild, almost malicious smile. "You don't have friends, do you?"

She gave him a look of purest, unadulterated murder, and he scrambled back a few feet as she raised her hand. Years of living with a mother such as his had trained him well for this situation, though when Kido came close he closed his eyes and turned his cheek to take the brunt of the blow. A bruised cheek was infinitely preferable to having swollen eyes or a bloody lip.

The expected shock didn't shatter his senses. She seemed like a strong girl, assuredly capable of slapping him to high heaven, yet the strike he'd been anticipating was nothing but a light touch, cradling his cheek. He opened his eyes wide. The word 'surprised' didn't do him justice at that moment, for this tough, cocky girl had tears in her eyes, shining like gilded diamonds, though he knew by default that they wouldn't ever fall. As much as he wanted to look away he didn't (_couldn't_).

"I'm Kano," he said.

"I don't have friends either," he said.

"I'll prove to you my umbrellas are magic," he said.

"Promise you that on my life," he said.

Kido looked at him and there was nothing to be read from her vitreous expression, but she inclined her head after a year, and said softly, "Show me."


	3. See Such Wondrous Sights

**I'm not sorry. **

**Review! :D**

* * *

Kido was leading him through the house, navigating its labyrinthine coils with an ease born of years of traversing them. Kano noticed, after a while, that they never took any of the main halls, instead walking through narrow diversions and dusky halls to ensure that they weren't seen. But this too seemed natural to the girl, as if she'd spent her entire life so far walking in the shadows.

Nervously, he broached this subject to her, and she replied in the remote way he'd come to recognize in the short time he'd known her. "My father tends to hit me when he sees me, and sometimes he storms the halls shouting 'Tsubomi! Tsubomi, you little bastard girl, come out where I can see you!'"

She stopped walking so abruptly Kano nearly crashed into her back. "And if I was within earshot, I would find him, because he is my father, and good girls obey her father." She fixed her hands with a look so intense he thought they would burst into flame. "I've been able to hide more recently because my sister came back from school. He dotes on her, and she doesn't like it when he hits me."

A ragged inhale, and Kano wasn't sure if she needed comfort or not. He settled for awkwardly patting her shoulder, and after a moment Kido put her head back up and strode onward.

Sooner rather than later, the corridor they were passing through spat them out like a pair of beans into an extravagant main hall. Kano stopped to marvel at an embroidered tapestry on the wall, rubbing it between his fingers, and said (_stupid child, stating the_ _obvious_) "Wow, you must be really rich."

Kido glared at him and motioned for him to step back into the relative safety of the small hall, but the boy persisted. "How much did this cost, anyway?" His face was one of nothing but awe as the massive wave of cloth rippled above him.

"Get back!" hissed the jade-haired girl, beckoning with a furious energy. "You're going to get us caught!"

Kano danced further back into the wide hall, smirking at her discomfort. His abrasive personality was at it again, (_do you want to be friendless, no wonder no one buys from you_) already pushing away the girl who'd saved him. "Yeah? Well, I don't see anyo-"

A voice carried around a corner, indistinct, but deep and imposing. A primal sort of fear kindled in the boy, and he stood frozen on the spot, quivering with pent-up energy. Kido, who'd instinctively slunk back into the veiled shadows, noted his deer-in-headlights expression. "Come _on_, idiot! Before he shows!" Forgetting some of her fear, she rushed into the hall, a blank-faced doll on a mission, and grabbed his arm to drag him. "Let's go, go, _go!_"

Kano's feet didn't work until he actually saw the man. Part of it was nothing but fear, but part of him wanted to see the monster that beat this strong girl into obedience. Either way, he was rooted to the spot as Kido's father rounded the corner.

He was a tall man, a muscled man, every inch the man the low strong voice implied. Towering above the petrified children, he seemed a giant, a god, and if he reached up he could tear holes in the ceiling and shatter the glass and peel apart the sky to rain fire and death on them both. The anger on him seemed to add another five yards to his height, until it seemed he'd be crammed into the domed ceiling like Alice in the forest.

"Tsubomi!" Now the enormous hands that could blot out the sun were curling around, reaching for the girl, who blanched. "Tsubomi, what have you done? Who is this boy? I'll have to ask him _nicely_, won't I, you little bastard?"

"Run," said Kido, barely making a sound, but taking off like a shot, towing Kano in her stead. His shoes had had the tread worn off of them long ago, and he slipped and slid all over the ground, earthquake footsteps in pursuit. His heart drummed a frantic tattoo in time to the rhythmical _thump, thump, thump_ of the bear chasing him, until the steps were louder and stronger than the pulses were, and without it it seemed he would collapse, his heart no longer willing to go on without its timpani in the background.

"I'll get you!" roared the creature of rage, and the slamming footsteps increased their pace. The children reciprocated, fleeing left and right through the hallways, though Kido's father was able to track them unerringly. Kano didn't bother to spare a glance over his shoulder; even one misstep would send him spilling across the ground, and he'd be lifted by the barbarian behind him, meaty hands encircling his throat. Nothing Kido could or would(_n't_) do then would save him, and he was _not_ going to expire after he'd just been saved (_how pitful would that be?_)

_It is almost like a game,_ he realized suddenly. _Step where your guide leads you, and don't fall..._ He almost saw the hearts of health floating in the corner of his vision.

Heavy hands smacked the air behind him, and there was a grunt of rage at the two children who'd evaded his charge. "Kido..." shrilled the young boy, who'd gotten a glimpse of the blocky features distorted with rage, black eyes spitting frenzied maelstroms. The loathing was palpable in the air, and that was only a quick cut out of peripheral vision.

"Turn here!" bellowed the girl, and she skidded sideways, coming to an abrupt narrow hallway that barely looked wide enough for one of them. If her father fallowed, he'd block it up like a clot of fat in a blood vessel.

Kano squeezed past her, desperate to escape the beast, and Kido grabbed his shirt, her fist clenched tightly in the pewter cloth. "I told you, idiot, get back in the hallway! Now look what you've done, we're stuck in this area, like mice trapped in their hole. He'll get us eventually..." Her breath came in sobbing rasps, but her face was composed and placid. (S_he's almost a better liar than you are.)_

That thought was shaken out of his head by Kido, who yanked him near and glared. "Are you stupid or something? It's _your_ fault that we're in here."

Kano glanced to the side, and then amidst the yelling was a cool, calming voice. It tamed the roars, coaxed the monster into the shape of a man, and lured him away, repeating such soothing chants as, "Come on, Father, we'll go back to the library and I'll even let you have a drink of your favorite, the bottle with the monkey on it, and we can discuss your plans..."

The young boy quickly deduced that the owner of this voice must belong to Kido's sister, and a quick glance at the jade-haired girl confirmed that. The trembling hope and love in her eyes made her beautiful, made him shiver, though those emotions weren't directed at him.

Once the voices were far enough away, Kido pulled at his sleeve. "Let's go," she said gruffly, and they made it the rest of the way to their destination without incident.

It was a room with many windows and not enough light. The single lamp gave the place a somewhat malevolent cast, and instead of using it, Kido strode over to the fireplace and banked the coals. In a few moments, she'd gotten a reasonably solid fire going, and the warm light was infinitely more homey.

"Right, here are your umbrellas," said the girl in a businesslike tone, and stood on tiptoe to fish a plastic bag off a desk, the ragged edge of her skirt pulling up to reveal her socks, and a thin stripe of skin. A bruise darkened the back of one leg. Seen from this angle, she could've been any girl, like the sort that he frequently had run into on a playground in a different city. The contrast was somewhat ridiculous, especially taking the green-haired girl's personality into consideration.

"But before we begin..." Kido glided close and held his chin in one hand. Her face, as usual, showed nothing, and as Kano held his breath, she ordered, "Close your eyes."

He closed them, half perplexed and half anticipating the next few seconds. _Is this what girls do? They kiss people? I suppose a kiss would be acceptable- _

Kido cocked her hand back and gave him a good, ringing slap with it (_did you really expect a kiss from this girl? What a pitiful thought. Your imagination is too strong, boy, keep it on a tight rein or it may well happen again)_. The force of it bowled the boy over, and he fell backwards, rolled a complete circumference (knocking into the firewood and spilling it in the process), and came up looking startled with one hand on his cheek. "Ow! What was that for?" The red shape of her hand was already appearing, and he angrily forced back tears.

"For being an idiot. You almost got us caught, and trust me, getting caught by him is much more painful than that slap. That was a kitten scratch." She turned and dusted her hands off almost smugly before turning back. "Now show me this magic umbrella trick, and you'd better have not wasted my time."

Kano grabbed at the bag, surprised to find his hands shaking. (_You've missed it, haven't you.)_ It had felt so long since he'd held his precious umbrellas so close to him, and he was barely able to rip the suddenly diaphanous bag away from his treasures. Kido watched all this with a raised eyebrow, but accepted one readily enough when he held it out to her. As for him, he closed eager fingers around the shaft of the familiar rainbow-sectioned one.

(_Long time no see, darling._)

They made a curious sight, two children silhouetted against the fire, one clutching a rainbow-patterned umbrella, and the other regarding a dainty confection of white fabric and wine-colored lacy patterns.

"Are you ready to go up?" Even his voice trembled with excitement.

(_Yes, yes, start, commence, initiate, _go, _slow, stupid child, can you not understand these words? GO._)

Kido picked up some of his excess energy and nodded cautiously, unable to keep the beginning of a smile off her face.

"Then let's go."

Kano positioned her hands over the umbrella pole correctly, and then opened hers, immediately rushing back to his umbrella to take flight (_ah, __higher, higher, scrape the roof of the sky, escape the celestial sphere, take flight!) _as well, two birds adrift in a land of stars and the wide open sky above heaven.


	4. No One Answered Him

***bursts into maniacal laughter* Still not sorry.**

**Review! :D**

* * *

Two children were silhouetted against the sky, and they dove and twirled in ecstasies of glee. The stars were like clusters of grapes, hanging fat and ripe in their path as they blazed meteor trails.

Kano skittered along the paths he'd traveled each and every time he'd gone up, content to enjoy the locations he'd already discovered, and he paid no attention to the girl whose first priority was to pick those plump glowing stars from the sky. With hands full of light, she stared deep into it, brow furrowed, as if those cupped palms held the secrets of the universe.

Time skittered past in loops and whorls, and they smiled together in their fantasy world.

"What's that?" Kano asked at one point, angling his head towards Kido. Her pocket was gleaming golden, light peeping over the cloth.

She offered him a cool glare, tempered by the joy that the air in this place seemed to exude. "Nothing. None of your concern."

"You're not supposed to take things-"

"I need to prove to my father that there is a space in the world for flights of fancy." Her voice was chilly. "If I can make him understand, if he sees, then..."

"But you're not supposed to!"

"Why not? Are there rules?"

"No," blustered Kano, "but I've always done it this way." (_And is that any suitable excuse, really?) _

The girl scowled at him, but emptied her pocket. Light fell in drips and splashes, and both of them watched it sink, slowly fading from their view.

* * *

_Descending, _coming down from the worlds in the sky.

The first thing Kano was aware of was heat. Blazing heat, crackling heat, and it was making him sweat. Quite a contrast to the last time he'd gone up and come down. Red fairies entwined in a sinuous ballet on the insides of his eyelids, and he opened them.

The fairies morphed into lumps of gamboling creatures, greedily sending inroads into the dark patterns of the carpet. Kano felt content to sit and watch the shapes as they cavorted and twisted, yellow giving way to red, and ever so slowly reaching towards him.

Pain ricocheted through him as one of those sprites kissed his knee, and he sprang to his feet, hands closing reflexively on his bundle of umbrellas. "Ow!" His mind cleared. Not fairies, but _fire._ And the smoke-

On cue, his lungs rejected the gray billows he'd been inhaling, and he hacked and spat into the fire. (_Can't you pay attention to your surroundings, boy?_)_  
_

"Kido?" His voice was grating, unrecognizable, like the voice of a monster. The fire was screaming as well, emitting a high thin whine, and that further distorted his words. The heat felt like it was drying out the surface of his eyes, and he retreated a few steps, arms full of umbrellas. "Kido?"

That time his voice seemed more like an actual voice, and the screeching of the fire paused for a moment. He tried to peer into the smoke to discern any visible form, but stepped back again when the fireplace belched at him.

Now the fire was spreading, and he had absolutely no idea what to do. There was no water in this room, and if he left, he may never find his way back. Or, worse, her father would catch him, and even "the drink with the monkey" wouldn't be able to save him then.

"It's cold outside, right, cold and fire don't go together, right!" He ran for one of the windows, quick-stepping over patches of gleaming red. Sweat-slick fingers fumbled for the clasp, and the fire was breathing down his neck when he managed to pry it open. The cold night sent needles into his limbs, a sharp contrast to the inferno scorching his back. For a moment, he felt an urge to take his umbrellas and leave, have the spoiled girl take care of her own needs.

Instead, he turned back to the room to see the flames blazing brighter, fed with fresh oxygen from the door. _I've made it worse. _And indeed, the screaming increased in pitch. (_You stupid, stupid idiot boy! Don't you know anything? Have I taught you nothing?)  
_

There was no clear path back to his original spot, and he stayed poised by the window, a bird about to flee its perch. "Kido?"

The next thing he saw would remain with him forever, be the image seared into his mind.

The frigid wind had blown away the worst of the smoke, and the charred figure standing upright seemed more demon than human. There she was, immersed in fire, yellow-orange arms wrapped around her like those of a lovers, and she seemed to have no eyes or mouth, only red flames reflecting off of empty sockets. The pale, smooth skin was bubbling and boiling like heated water, the unnaturally green jade a tornado. She danced a puppet dance on strings of embers, and it seems her hands were fused together, cupped in front of her.

Kano could only stare as her hands, delicate and fine-boned even now, shimmered with pale gold. _She _did_ steal the starlight,_ he marveled, and was even now in awe. _I could never have the nerve to do that - never break my unsaid rules, never get out of this method of living - _

_Because she stole the starlight, now she suffers. I can't let anyone do this again, can't tempt anyone - _"Kido?" he called nervously, in case this apparition wasn't the stubborn girl he'd known for such a short time. A monster birthed in flame...

His voice seemed to make it to her this time, and the terrifying visage slowly turned to him. The soulless eyes in that walking conflagration pinned him to the spot, and her voice, impossibly clear and cool as ever despite the screaming (_of course it was her screaming, not the fire, what kind of idiot are you?_) said, simply, "Help me."

At that, Kano's nerve broke. He hugged his umbrellas to him and turned away, tears that were definitely only from smoke stinging his eyes on his cheeks, and wriggled out the window, dropping his precious burden three floors down and scrabbled for handholds on the brick. It was icy, but not as cold as it could have been, for the heat was slowly leeching into the surrounding area.

He more fell than climbed down the side of the house, and when he reached the snow, he was giddy enough to kiss it before gathering his folded umbrellas up and blowing soot off them. It puffed in little storm clouds in the air.

Kano was already getting cold. His tears were freezing. The air felt as if it were gnawing off his extremities, but he had to look up, had to see what he'd done, else he'd never be able to live with himself.

The entire top of the house seemed ablaze, red and orange light dazzlingly bright against the pitch black sky. It no longer seemed so big and imposing. Rather, now it was pitiful, small, dwarfed in flames. A labyrinth? Contained in there? _Ha. _

"I'm sorry," he said uselessly, his voice stretched thin and shaky. "I screwed up again."

(_You killed someone. No; at least three someones._)_  
_

And as passerby stopped to watch and gawp and call the fire department, Kano put his head down, bit back his sobs, and fled.


	5. Then One Day it Rained

**This one lacks some of the poetic language the other four chapters have, but we need a bit of a breather from that last chapter. Let's hear it for something not drenched in strange adjectives! Don't worry, pretty words will probably be back with the next update. **

**Review! :D**

* * *

Not even five minutes after escaping the burning house, the umbrella boy was out in the cold again, though, considering what had just happened, he was thinking that he wouldn't ever want to be warm again.

(_She'd said, "Help me." And you abandoned her. You stupid boy, can't you do anything right?)_

Kano hugged his umbrellas tightly to his chest, buried his face in them, hiding his wind-whipped face in their soothing material, trying to hide from the memory, the roasting flesh, the conflagration that illuminated her skin from behind-

_No! Don't go there. It's my fault, and thinking about that sort of thing is evil: Mother told me so._

Was it really his fault? He'd showed her the paths in the sky, and warned her not to steal the starlight, but she had, against what he'd told her.

(_So the blame _does_ rest on her.)_

Kano's foot caught on something, some irregularity buried under the heavy snowfall, and flailing wildly, he fell into a large pile of the cold stuff. As usual, his first priority were those special umbrellas of his. Numb, blocky digits swept clumsily through the snow, slowly pulling out one after another. In the darkness, they looked like torpedoes, solid tubes crusted with ice. Finally, most of the umbrellas had been rescued. All but one remained to be found, and the boy was on the verge of tears when his slow fingers, groping frantically, closed on the haft of it.

He breathed a sigh of relief that quickly choked to tears in the back of his throat. _I'm cold, and freezing, and soaking wet, and I can't feel my fingers and toes, and I just burned someone to death in their own house. Where do I go from here? _

The tears were slowly oozing from his face again, and freezing almost a second later, and he was sitting in a pile of snow in the middle of the sidewalk crying like it was the most natural thing in the world to get hypothermia and die. Without even thinking, he grabbed one of his umbrellas and opened it over his head, which at least shielded him from the snow a little, if not providing warmth.

It must've been an amusing sight; a green-and-blue striped umbrella cap poking out of the snow like some otherworldly flower, losing its shape but not its brilliance as the snow started to wall him in. _I guess this is my tomb,_ thought Kano gloomily, and pawed halfheartedly at the encroaching walls of snow, which _shfffed_ against his hands. He drew them back with a hiss; the cold burned.

"I don't want to die here!" he screamed, sudden, an upwelling of emotion inside him. "I burned people and I probably deserve it, but I want to live!" The little lines of tears were bursting out of him like a dam breaking, and the icy patches on his cheeks were red with the cold. His fingers looked as if he'd scalded them, lobster-pink. _At least they're not black. That's frostbite, right?_

Kano's tears dulled down to despairing sobs, and then the occasional sniffle. But that might just have been a by-product of the cold. (_Right, because you're obviously too brave to cry._)

"Are you okay?"

It was a small voice, narrow and wavering, as if it were liable to float away in the wind or get buried under the snow. But all the same, Kano lifted the umbrella, and saw an earnest little face, much like his own, looking at him from perhaps three feet away. His approach had been muffled by the white blanket.

"Aah!" The umbrella boy jumped, banged his head on one of the struts, got his hair tangled in it, and desperately tried to remain cool. _Ha. Cool. _"U-um, hello."

"...hello..." The other boy was clad in a raggedly puffy jacket that hung down to his knees. He had large eyes, dark, and shining with unwarranted tears. His features were fragile (_almost like Kido's)._The cold set two little roses to blooming on the slightly chubby cheeks. Finding himself the larger of the two, Kano straightened a little. _I don't even think he's as old as I am._ A little confidence regained, he leaned down to the boy's level. "My name's Kano, and what's yours?"

"Seto," the little boy mumbled, averting his eyes shyly. Kano noticed he was clutching a tattered stuffed dog to his chest, little fingers wrapped so tightly around it that spots of bone white were in the center of the cold-caused patches of red.

"I'm Kano!" said Kano in an overly cheerful voice, realized he said it twice, and flushed. Seto seemed not to notice, though, and the umbrella boy warily held out a hand to shake. Seto was a cute kid, sure, but his life so far had taught him not to trust anyone.

Seto regarded him dubiously, but after a lengthy pause, stuck out one small hand. They shook. Though Seto's fingers were cold, his were even colder, and the relative heat the handshake provided was a small balm.

"You're cold," said Seto a few seconds later, and Kano resisted the urge to snap, "Right, thanks, Captain Obvious." That would alienate this child for sure, and though he'd known the boy for perhaps half a minute, it was hard not to like him, what with his open face and squishy cheeks. Instead, he replied, "Yes, I am."

Seto looked at the other's chapped, red fingers thoughtfully. "I know a warm place. You could come!" Now the eyes were twinkling with happiness, or something close to it. Kano surreptitiously tried to remove the umbrella from his hair.

Warmth was a treasure to be coveted. Even thinking of it, a heady pleasant feeling, fingers and toes tingling and able to move (a_ girl dancing in the flames of her house, screaming and screaming and screaming) _made him feel subliminally warmer. Now that he'd emerged from his umbrella-cave of awesomeness, the wind was whipping right through his clothes. Through the parts of his mind that didn't feel numbed into sleepy oblivion, he realized he desperately wanted to be warm, almost as much as he didn't want to die.

"Sure," he said, offering the other boy his nicest smile. "Show me the way."


	6. This Left the Man in the Cold

**School sucks. Happy almost-halloween! **

**Review! :D**

* * *

The wind was capricious, switching back and forth, and it cut right through Kano's body like a knife through butter. For a moment, when Seto stopped to gauge his location (_surely most landmarks are covered in this_ _blizzard), _he closed his eyes, let himself sway and bend to the whims of the frigid typhoon. In the darkness of his eyes, he saw the wind, actually _saw_ it, a ghastly distorted face with gnawing fangs sweeping down at him and cutting his little-boy body in two. Hot blood spattered out of the steaming meat of his waist, and his legs collapsed sideways, sending blood melting hot little channels through the snow, and his torso was lying face-down, screaming and screaming and _screaming -_

His eyes snapped open at Seto's voice, which seemed as fragile as spun sugar. For a moment, he felt weightless, seeing the voice rather than hearing it - a light, minty sort of color, almost refreshing in its simplicity, and constructed in careful, wavering lines - and then he was heavier again, _pneuma_ centered within the _sarx_ once more. The _psuche_ had never stopped its frantic churning.

"Are you all right, Kano?"

The sweat which had so briefly made its appearance on his forehead was torn at by the wind, warmth leaching out, and he managed a nod. He wiped it away before it would freeze, and then grated, "I feel just dandy, but the sooner we get to your place, the better." His teeth chattered so badly he nearly bit his tongue (_in two_),and his throat felt scratchy. He coughed harshly.

_(blood spattered out)_

(_covered in this blizzard)_

_(Who would know that you ever existed? If it weren't for Seto, no one would care. Take care that you do not screw this up, stupid boy.)_

Kano gulped, stuffing the morbidity back down to where it came from, and attempted a reassuring smile at the younger boy, who turned and squinted at the street signs, already rundown, but now barely visible. The snow was getting worse, and without thinking about it, he reached a hand towards the stem of an umbrella, intending to reach out and shade the two of them.

Like a whip cracking in his mind, Kido came back to him - except it wasn't the Kido he'd known, it was the black nightmare figure, clotted with boils of blood, blazing fire from her eyes. _Kano, why did you leave me behind? _Her voice was exactly the same, and the umbrella salesman suspected that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep easily that night. A rill of fear traveled down his spine like an electric shock, and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to run, leave Seto and the scene of his crime, to find himself in another town, to go back to the world above the arch of the town and live there forever.

By force of will (_by sinking his teeth into his lip so hard they were limned with_ _blood),_ he anchored himself again, though now he felt awfully lightheaded and ill. _Hurry up!_ he screamed at the small boy. _Hurry up! I think I'm dying out here, and you're just standing there staring at these letters as if you're an illiterate bastard! Do you or do you not have a place for me to stay? _

As if reading his mind, Seto turned to him and said diffidently, "We go this way," and led him towards the edge of town. "There's a shed that nobody uses - I think it was a timber shed at one point? But now I live there, and it's warm enough."

"Hm." Kano felt warm, and then freezing, and then warm again. _Why did you leave me behind?_ whispered his Kido-tainted subconscious. "That's interesting."

The walking was tedious; the already grimly playful wind was whittling away at them, fat flakes of snow flew into his eyes and ears, his nose was clogged with mucus. He had to resist the urge to turn around and check for a stumbling, staggering shape, a burned girl bent on revenge. _Why did you leave me behind? _he heard, clear as day, felt her hot breath on his ear, and nearly tripped over his feet before stealing a hasty, terrified look behind him, certain in his knowledge that the apparition would exist, charred fingers like twisted roots punching through his shoulder to take him with her to whatever worlds were beyond this one.

There was nothing there, but his heart continued its anxious palpitations.

After what felt like eons of trudging into the teeth of the gale, Seto pointed to a dim hulk. The other arm cradled his stuffed dog protectively to his chest. "There it is."

Kano gazed upon his new shelter with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. It didn't look like much, but if it kept him out of this damned wind (_it kept snatching at his umbrellas, it was going to steal them_), then it was worthwhile. He felt ready to bobble out of his body, a balloon, _(everything floats)_ and he looked down at himself, a wind-numbed boy with dim gold hair clutching a bouquet of umbrellas.

_So small, _he found himself marveling. _So evanescent. _

Seto was a smaller dot, darker, and the pale blur of his upturned face turned towards Kano. The pink smear of a mouth moved - sound was emitted- Kano thudded back into his body again.

"I don't feel well," he said faintly in reply to whatever the smaller boy had said. "Let's go inside."

Seto readily obliged, trotting up the steps and pushing open the door. The interior of the shed was dark, not very large, perhaps six feet wide and four feet long, and the roof was at a breathtaking five feet. "What kind of shed did you say this was again?" asked Kano with dull curiosity. No adult could fit into this shed unless they were super short.

"A timber storage area," said Seto, sounding as if he were a long way away. "I think. Anyway, I've only got a sleeping area for one, though..." The younger boy gestured at a small nest of old blankets. Despite their filthy state, it nevertheless looked warm.

"For one, huh," echoed Kano, trying to make his stupid cold brain come up with something clever to make the little boy laugh, his face burned, and was he sweating in ths middle of this? What a phenomenon. The splinters on the floor suddenly seemed very close, and he belatedly realized his cheek was lying against the rough texture.

Seto cried out a moment later, and the umbrella salesman pushed against the ground, struggling mightily into a sitting position. "Sorry about the scare," he said with a weak laugh. "I didn't mean to-"

"You get the nest," Seto said in a surprisingly businesslike voice for one so young. "I've tolerated cold before. You're sick."

"We can share," gritted out Kano. "Two bodies are warmer than one."

Seto didn't respond, instead rolling the blond into the nest and tucking blankets over him. "I'll be fine," said the boy at length, though Kano was already unconscious with sleep.

* * *

In the middle of the night, the umbrella salesman woke, absolutely certain that someone was stealing his umbrellas. He waited patiently for his eyes to adjust, realized that the shed was nearly Stygian in its darkness, and then groped out in a panic, heart racing faster and faster until the familiar material met his fingers. The tension drained out of him like someone had pulled a plug. His headache had decreased, the throbbing pulses at a much slower rate than they had been before.

He was about to go back to sleep when he remembered Seto - the brave boy, sacrificing his warmth and possibly his health for a stranger he'd never seen in his life until now. (_You're making him waste himself, stupid boy.)_

Almost dreamily, he reached out again, past the soothing stack of umbrellas and to the worn material of Seto's jacket. The boy stirred, and in an almost amusing turn of the tables, he was now rolling Seto into the blanket-nest, which was rapidly cooling in the frigid air. Kano slipped back under the mass of blankets, trying to retain as much warmth as possible.

As he teetered on the edge of oblivion, he felt little cold feet pressing against his back, and then a shift and then a warmer bulk, (_Seto is pressing his face against me?_) comforting. In a drab of light that somehow penetrated the shed (_i swear it wasn't there a moment ago)_, Kano saw that the younger boy's face was peaceful, unlined and unworried, the little toy dog clutched to his chest. _With his cold-pinkened chubby cheeks and expressive eyes, the kid could probably be some sort of child model,_ he thought vaguely. _For snow-clothes or for summer shorts or something. I hope I'm not bringing him down.__  
_

In his sleep, the little boy smiled, and Kano's heart swelled towards the stranger he was already thinking of as a younger brother.


	7. A(n in)Firm Resolve

**Would you look at that, I skipped two entire months (just about). My only excuse is that November was hectic and kind of terrifying from a school perspective. December was also hectic and terrifying from a school perspective (points at the failing grade in calculus), so hopefully I'll be able to take care of my grades, otherwise my updates will be worse.**

**I promised myself I'd update all my multichapters before New Year's. Consider it a gift :) ****Happy (almost) New Year!**

**Review! :D**

* * *

When Kano woke, the difference between how he'd felt the night before and how he felt now was staggering. Yesterday, he would've sworn on his illness; today, his head was clear, his body felt sound, and the only thing wrong with him was the growling hunger in his belly.

He made to move, but chubby arms were holding him from the back, hugging him tightly, and the umbrella salesman suddenly remembered Seto. Carefully, as to not wake the child, he turned, and the little stripe of gray sunlight illuminated the small face. The pale skin seemed to glow from within, and Kano recalled a half-delirious thought about Seto and sunshine and child models.

For a moment, he let himself lie there and be loved, but illusions were just that; ephemeral. Kano entertained no thoughts of being able to live with the boy forever. He'd probably end up getting him into a mess, and ditching him as he did for Kido, and another mistake like that - inconceivable. He wouldn't allow it to happen again.

(_Bad luck follows you like your shadow, silly boy, something will happen, whether you like it or_ _not.)_

He reached out without thinking to feel for his umbrellas, found them, thought about escaping to the welkin -

As his hands grasped the shaft, there was a juddering glimmer, two contorted limbs reaching around him from behind, blackened and hot. _Why did you leave me behind? _exhaled Kido, and he could see her shadow behind him, actually _see _it. It wasn't just a figment of his imagination this time, she was actually _there_, sprung from the ashes of the house he'd burned down like a malignant plant.

_You know, since you left me like this, you should come with me. _She whispered in his ear, crooning, and he found himself unable to move, as if he were a deer in headlights. He was sure it was a strange tableau. A burned girl with hot pits for eyes (_his imagination went into overtime, painting in the melted blotchy smear of a mouth, the places where the skin was a dark scorched red, a clutch of blisters festering in the once-porcelain area behind one ear_), wrapping equally burned arms around a trembling blond boy in the morning sunshine.

_C'mon, Kano. Let me in. I'll introduce you to my sister, we'll have a grand old time._ Her arms felt as light as a bundle of twigs.

"Are you all right?"

Seto sat up and put his head on one side, and just like that, Kido vanished. Kano glanced at the space her shadow had been, and that too was gone. "Sure I am," said Kano reassuringly. If his voice was uneven, well, that could be blamed on a lot of things, now, couldn't it?

Seto continued to look at him, making eye contact, and Kano felt uncomfortable, finally having to break off the eye lock. He bent all his attention on busily sweeping his umbrellas into a pile. Behind him, Seto said softly, "I don't think you're okay."

The umbrella salesman jerked back around and stammered out, "Ah - why would you think that? I'm fine, that's me." And he pasted on an artificial grin.

Seto didn't back away as Kano half expected him to, but eventually asked, "Who's Kido?"

The blond's hair stood up. "Kido? How'd you know that name?"

"You were saying it in your sleep." Seeing Kano's expression, he added, "Should I not talk about her? I won't, if her name makes you remember bad things."

(_blackened twig girl from the ashes from the ashes from the ashes_)

"Nah, it's fine." Kano sat back heavily and put his face in his hands. "I just..." After a moment, there was the warmth of another body at his side. "I just...I messed up, you know? Kido was nice to me, and I wound up..I did a bad thing..." To his horror, his eyes were stinging with impending tears. He choked them back the best he could and tried to continue. "I think...I think I might've killed her...her house burned down..." Now they were overflowing, but he kept his hands firmly over his eyes so the other boy wouldn't see.

A sudden terrifying thought came to him. _Now, after I've revealed my terrible secret, maybe Seto would want to leave me alone..._ As if feeding off that fear, the presence next to him vanished. Seto had moved away, and the blond lifted his head, revealing tear-stained features. _Ah, so I'll be rejected after all-_

For a moment, he thought he felt her breath on his ear, but that was dispelled by Seto tentatively wrapping his small arms around him. The boy looked at him seriously (_or as seriously as a little boy could look, anyway_), and he said "That's a reason to be upset." Which sounded like a thing that wouldn't really help him feel better, but it did. After a long hesitation, Kano returned the embrace.

It felt nice, to love and be loved. It was a brotherly sort of thing, a familial thing, and even though he was certain his mother had loved him, this was a different feeling. It was warm. Seto was a cute kid, he was a polite, nice one as well. Most kids would think nothing of another boy freezing to death under an umbrella, but in an amusing irony, the younger of the two was the one to extend the help. Without Seto, Kano would likely be entombed in the snow, ice-cold, chilled, clutching his umbrellas as if they were his entire world. _(Which they had been, and still were.)_ It was about time for an expansion of it, though...judging by Seto (_and Kido, don't forget_), not everyone was as bad as he'd originally been led to believe.

He allowed himself to soften in the embrace, but as he was on the cusp of relaxing, a narrow thought like a splinter of ice was driven into his head, as if an orbitoclast was being hammered through his frontal bone.

(_and new things are dangerous and you will kill him with your curse of bad luck_)

It was an image so strikingly profound, a vision sharp-edged and tart in its temporal impermanence; this little boy, dead. Unmoving, bleeding, as if dropped from a great height (_from the bellies of the clouds_), altogether silent and still. The snow was darkening around him, and the gray shapes of people stood around him and chattered. Kano was there; the air was cold, it smelled of metal, and his fingernails bit his arms, leaving vivid red crescents.

_A shame._

Kano jolted as if he'd been physically struck and extricated himself from Seto's hug. "Anyway, thanks for taking care of me," he said, almost hurriedly, "but I don't think I should trouble you anymore - "

"Why not?" As he'd come to expect of the boy, Seto seemed at once to possess a strange blend of shyness and boldness; he blurted out the words, but at the same time they seemed controlled. Kano had a sudden vision - not as intense as the one of Seto's death - of Seto, older, maybe sixteen, tall and strong, and everyone loved him because he loved everyone. Unlike the other, this daydream deteriorated into wispy shreds, and then not even that much, and Kano blinked, taken aback.

"I don't think I'd be good for you, that's all." Kano tried to maintain eye contact, but Seto's dark stare was intense, almost electric, and it took all his effort to keep his eyes on the other boy.

"It's because of Kido, isn't it? Because she died, you think I'll be unable to take care of myself." Seto's voice was slightly accusing, and at that, Kano straightened his back.

"Well, yeah...I bring bad luck with me, don'cha know. I'm like, cursed or something. Boo!" Kano's attempt to play it off as humor went off wrong, and it just sounded very flat and fake. He flushed when Seto failed to react.

"I can take care of myself," Seto insisted after an awkward pause, and he folded his arms and closed his eyes, as if that solved the argument.

Kano wanted to pull his hair out; in fact, he tried to. He tangled his fingers in gold locks and yanked on them in frustration, closing his own eyes. _If I stay with you, you'll die! I know it! I feel it! I saw it! __Don't you understand? I'm doing this to save you!  
_

He heaved a sigh, opened his eyes, and found Seto staring at him intently again.

"I think I get it. You think I'm going to die." The boy seemed closer than he had a minute ago, and Kano wondered if he was still sick after all. _Is my face that easy to read, or did some sort of magic happen and he picked it out of my mind? _"I'll tell you what, Kano, I can take care of myself. The only thing I need is company." Those dark, compelling eyes were trained on him, and Kano felt his will eroding. _He talks like a political speaker! _thought the blonde in awe, never mind the fact that he was young, and the only politics he'd ever learned about were the ones his mother used to rant about, and political speakers didn't frequent this small town.

(_stay away boy you'll murder him_) (_fading) (shhhh)_

"Are you _absolutely _sure you'll be okay?" His voice quivered with trepidation.

Seto nodded, radiant in his certainty. "I'll be_ fine. _Now, are you gonna stay? Because if you're not, hurry up and get out, you're taking up space." The words were harsh, but there was a certain jocularity about it that assuaged the blond's fears.

"Well, all right..." Kano had to relent - he hated confrontation.

Seto tackle-hugged him around the midsection in a complete surprise maneuver, and this time, Kano didn't hesitate to return the hug.


End file.
